Mr. Kakfwi.

Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the Minister responsible for public safety. The Minister announced in the House the day before yesterday in respect to appointing the committee to address the mining safety bill. In reviewing the Minister's statement it was noted that the individual who is to be chairman of this committee is from BC. I would like to ask the Minister, basically, if the individual is from BC, and does he reside in BC?

Minister of Safety and Public Services, Mr. Patterson.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Does the Minister feel he could not retain the expertise in the NWT and that he had to go out of the jurisdiction?

Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thought long and hard about this, because of course in most circumstances we would want to take advantage of the expertise of a resident in the NWT. However, the high expectations on the part of the stakeholders in the area of mining safety was that the new process to be put in place would be effective if the chairman was independent, and that led me to feel that any possible candidates from the NWT, although they would bring an element of local knowledge -- and a very important element of local knowledge -- to the committee, might be seen as coming to the committee with some kind of a bias, depending on their previous experience in one sector or another in the NWT.

So, Mr. Speaker, it was my judgment that in order to ensure objectivity and no one being involved that had an axe to grind, as it were, in this very controversial and sensitive area, that the advantages of appointing a neutral person from outside the Territories, especially with recent experience in developing progressive mine safety legislation in another jurisdiction, would outweigh the disadvantage of not having a Northerner as chair of this committee. It was a judgment call on my part, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Mr. Speaker, since the Minister feels that we still need a lot of southern expertise that is biased to be able to develop the Mining Safety Act, I would like to ask the Minister, what is this process going to cost?

Mr. Patterson.

Well, Mr. Speaker, with the greatest respect to the Member, I did not say that we needed a biased southern expert. I said that one advantage of getting a person who is not from the jurisdiction is that they could not be accused of being biased or having an axe to grind, or carrying a particular agenda to the committee. That is, one guarantee of at least the appearance of independence would be to get somebody into this sensitive job who is not labelled as being associated with a particular mine, or a particular union, or a particular experience. It was exactly the opposite of my intention, which was to have an unbiased person in the chair.

Now, Mr. Speaker, with respect to the honourable Member's question about costs, the participants in this committee, I am happy to report -- that is, the members other than the chairperson -- will be responsible for their own costs, so the principal cost of this new consultation process will be the expenses of the chairperson. Mr. Speaker, the cost of employing the chairperson, who will be retained by the government, will depend on how long the committee takes to do its work. I am hopeful that if we have the right degree of good will and a business-like approach with this committee, it could be done within a couple of months; but at the moment, until the committee meets, I will not be able to estimate the length of time it will require, and therefore it will be difficult for me to estimate the total costs at this point. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell this House, what is the cost or the rate of the chairperson's fee per day?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, the rate of remuneration for the chairperson of the mining safety bill committee will be appropriate to that person's professional qualifications. It will be the standard rate that is paid to a professional engineer -- I do not know how much it is, but whatever a professional engineer -- there is a scale of fees for experts, Mr. Speaker, which is probably well known to the honourable Member. I am not sure if it is a matter of privilege between that consultant and the government, Mr. Speaker, but it is what we would ordinarily pay a professional, in this case an engineer, for work of this kind. Thank you.

Mrs. Marie-Jewell, you have used up your supplementaries. You did. I have two people who counted. Oral questions. Oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell, a new question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under a new question, Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Safety and Public Services, and it is regarding the mining safety bill. Did the Minister indicate to this House that the Union of Northern Workers, Echo Bay Mines, and Polaris Mines will be absorbing the total costs for their members to be participants of the mining safety bill committee?

Mr. Patterson.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, how can the Minister convince this House that committee will be unbiased?